Call for participation: first AI in healthcare mission to Taiwan
The outward mission to Taiwan will help assist UK SMEs, spin-out companies and start-ups to export, find co-development partners and investors from 6 to 8 March.
The mission is organised by The UK Science & Innovation Network (SIN) Taipei, Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), British Council, and Department of International Trade (DIT). It will provide selected participants sponsorship and a tailor-made programme of visits, workshops and one-on-one meetings, targeted at innovative UK SMEs and research organisations involved in AI in healthcare. This mission offers UK companies and universities the chance to meet commercial partners, potential clients, and investors in Taiwan explore areas of joint interest, research, and collaboration. We will help to build your network and presence as well as introduce you to the right organisations to accelerate your financial and business growth.
We see particular opportunities for participants with expertise in these areas:
- Digital Health
- Medical Imaging
- Decision Support
- Precision Medicine
Deadline for application is 10 February 2019. For more information about application and sponsorship details, please contact ginell.hsu@fco.gov.uk.
About the Taiwan market
Taiwan—the world’s 22nd largest economy, situated in the middle of the Asia-Pacific region, is an excellent route for foreign companies into the emerging economies of East and South East Asia, while also being an ideal platform, from which to enter the Chinese market. Taiwan’s welcoming culture and reliable business environment underpin the potential for strong partnerships.
Joint R&D opportunities lie in Taiwan’s ICT strengths, as Taiwan excels in hardware development with a well-established and professional supply chain. Taiwan’s leading ICT giants are actively seeking investment opportunities and R&D projects as they diversify into AI focussed industries. They welcome horizontal and vertical integration models for medical devices and healthcare services through M&A or forming strategic partnerships.
In the past two years, Taiwan has seen extensive public and private investment in AI, the Ministry of Science and Technology has invested £400 million into forming four AI centres at prominent Taiwan universities focusing on commercial applications. In addition to this leading brands such as Microsoft and Google have invested large sums establishing AI R&D centres, a decision influenced by Taiwan’s strong local talent, culture of innovation, and respect for international IP protections.
Taiwan’s high quality universal health coverage single payer National Health Insurance (NHI) program covers 99.9% of the island’s 23 million population with public satisfaction at 83.1%. The data collected from this makes Taiwan’s centralised BioBank one of the world’s most complete health data resources, with vast scope for greater AI analysis. Looking ahead, Taiwan and the UK have a number of serious health challenges that need to be addressed, not least of all aging populations, international cooperation will be vital to solving these issues.